


Forged Friendships

by UraniumLord



Series: Two Minicons, a Miner, and a Tape Deck [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Backstory, Canon-Typical Violence, Cave-In, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon, miner Megatron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28786815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UraniumLord/pseuds/UraniumLord
Summary: Years before his name became infamy, Megatron was just one among many, a miner toiling below in the depths to provide energon to those above. Connections weren't made between mechs like him, knowing that it wouldn't be long before those connections would be dropped due to reassignment or death.Flukes happened, though. Sometimes twice at a time.
Relationships: Frenzy & Rumble (Transformers)
Series: Two Minicons, a Miner, and a Tape Deck [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2192325
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks thanks for checking out my story! A quick note before we start, I drew inspiration from multiple continuities to create this fic. That said it isn't 100% canon compliant. This takes place in-between events that we see happening 'on screen' in the comics, and it assumes that the events in the Megatron Origin series were not the first time Rumble & Frenzy met Megatron.

_D-16: Meet with new partner I-2 for final excavation of tunnel 78S._

Another new assignment. It seemed as if these were coming more frequently lately, the supervisors never seeming satisfied with where they were placing their crew. Shuffling them around. If he were a speculator, Megatron would almost assume that they were up to something. Trying to shuffle around the miners, keep them from making true connections with each other - it was certainly possible. "United" is the last thing that the mechs lording over their energon deposits would want. "Unity" would mean their hapless employees would start to get _ideas_. 

But he wasn't a speculator. The days down here in the dark were maddening enough without thinking about conspiracy. He didn't want to end up like poor Flipbox, optics vacant and fingers always restlessly tapping - tapping - come to think of it, he hadn't seen the elder miner in quite some time. He hoped, privately, that he was well.

Dwelling on these things wouldn't serve him any purpose, either. Stepping away from the vidscreen he shouldered past some of the others gathered around to see where they were going to be shuffled to that week. Optics looked past them, not wanting to see their reactions. They were likely nothing more than the usual display of disappointment or resignation that came every time these restructurings were brought up. Exiting the rough-hewn common room, Megatron headed down the hallway. The lights overhead flickered and fizzed, casting long shadows as the mechs below moved.

Once upon a time, it had been easier to tell who was heading out for a shift and who was just coming back from one - a difference in posture, in finish - but that had long since faded into a deep, permeating exhaustion that wove between layers of rock. The further down they tunneled, the fewer and further between trips to the surface became, the more desolate the general mood had been. Some of these mechs hadn't seen the surface in deca-cycles. Others for even longer than that.

Megatron had stopped keeping track. He had no reason to return to the surface. Though others may have enjoyed the scant time they were free to go into the city, Megatron had only found frustrations. He'd rather stay down in the dark than be casted those _looks_ , looks of disgust, pity, or indifference. The types of emotions reserved for those like him, those who toiled unseen and were an unsightly blemish in cities of colorful mechs and pulsing lights.

As he ruminated on his thoughts, Megatron had made it up to S-level as if by instinct. His past 4 reassignments had been here, though those were when it was still a fully serviceable section of the mine, not almost-empty, hollowed out tunnels ready for the removal of the last bits of an Energon vein before being closed off permanently and the mine deepened. There was only a skeleton crew left, those who would mine the last dredges of Energon, and those who would reinforce the weakest of the tunnels so further drilling below wouldn't collapse all the rest of the mine on top of them.

Not that he really thought anyone would care at this point. There was a time that the supervisors had truly cared about safety. That was a time that had since passed.

Glancing up at the numbers and letters carved in above the sprawling access tunnels, he spotted 78S and grimaced to himself. Down towards the very, very tail end of the main access point, it was his least favorite type of tunnel - just big enough that he could move forwards and backwards. He'd be lucky if he could turn around once inside. 

And where was his assigned partner? From what he could see, he was one of very few mechs left on this level. Most sound of drilling and axes came from further away. Perhaps his partner was already inside...he wondered if they would both fit. 

Stepping into the tunnel he was relieved to see that it widened some paces in, steel girders propped up every so often to reinforce the ceiling of the tunnel. He wondered if him and his yet-absent partner would also be tasked with removing those and he grimaced. He understood the need to re-use resources, but he had also heard whispered tales of those who were tasked with removing struts from tunnels that could collapse any moment. Forever pinned under the rubble until they ran out of Energon and offlined, because the supervisors wouldn't bother to waste time and labor digging them out when they could easily replace them.

"Hey! Are you supposed to be in here?" Startled from his thoughts by a peevish tone, Megatron gave his head an imperceptible shake to clear it before rotating to spot the source of the voice. 

"We're trying to meet someone. Could you find somewhere else to stand and melt your brain module?" 

The source of the voice was - down? His optics shifted, focusing on not one, but two - minicons? He reset his optics, brow pinching as he looked down at them. They were nearly identical, the same steely gray with caution strips as most other denizens of the mine, save for the one with his arms crossed having red colorblocks on his arms, and the one with hands on his hips had blue. And, for once, he found himself at a loss.

He knew, of course, that minicons existed. But he had never set eyes upon them himself, and frankly, had never expected to. The mines weren't typically a place for anyone who wasn't strong and bulky. 

"Hello? Are you just going to stare at us? Ugh, Frenzy, call one of the bosses, I think his brain module is busted." 

The voice snapped him back out of his confusion.

"My brain module is not 'busted,'" He replied, allowing himself a moment of indignance. "I was reassigned here, for final excavation. I'm also waiting on a partner to arrive to complete the job with, so I think the pair of you may be the ones in the wrong place." Megatron crossed his arms, drumming his fingers against one of the yellow-and-black caution strips on his arm. 

It was the pair's turn to stare, then, before turning to regard each other silently before looking back up to the towering figure before them.   
  
"Nah, that can't be right. They assigned _you_ to a final excavation? Isn't that a little...delicate for you?" The one who had spoken before piped up again. "You're a deep core miner." 

The other - Frenzy, he remembered - spoke up as well. "You're, uh, D-16? We were kinda expecting something else." 

"So was I," Megatron replied, realizing that none of them was in the wrong place at all. "For one, I expected only one of you. I-2." 

"Right," Frenzy said with a nod. "That's us. I-2A and B." 

"But," The other interrupted. "We prefer-"

A hand was slapped over his mouth. "Don't tell him! He might not be..." The speaker side-eyed him. "Y'know. Cool with it." 

Megatron looked at them with a growing incredulity. He wasn't used to...boisterous attitudes. And the pair of minicons definitely seemed to fit that definition. He could barely repress the urge to scoff and scowl. Instead, he simply turned away and began to stride deeper into the tunnel beyond the thoroughly mined walls to find the end of the vein they were supposed to extract, speaking up as he walked. "I already know you're Frenzy," He said simply. 

Frenzy gave the other a long look, lips twisting into a slight frown. "Thanks. For that," He addressed his companion, then stomped along after the much larger mech.

"See, he already knows anyways. I'm Rumble," the second mech introduced himself, jogging to catch up. "Did you pick something? Or do you, uh, prefer D-16?" 

"Megatron," he replied simply, looking over his shoulder slightly to glance between both of the red visors glowing in the darkness of the tunnel. He had to admit, at least to himself, he was full of questions. Why did the mine employ these two? Were there more minicons, working away in some corners he had previously neglected to see? Were they the only ones? What exactly was their purpose here?

"Okay - Megatron it is, then," Frenzy's voice seemed to hold a note of relief. Megatron understood. Those who stuck to their original designation numbers were far more likely to report infractions to the supervisors. And though he tried not to judge upon having first met someone, he could tell that these two likely made a few infractions. 

By now they had reached the end of the tunnel, and it became suddenly quite apparent why Megatron had been assigned here after all. 

"Really? They want us to dig HERE?" Rumble sounded indignant - and Megatron supposed that it wasn't entirely unwarranted. The vein of energon had thinned out until it was barely more than a strip, but was surrounded by multiple veins of a much harder mineral. Osmium, he'd wager, given the slight blueish tint to the rock. He was certainly willing to bet that whatever equipment this odd pair had been equipped with was not hard enough to break through that for long. 

It seemed the minicons had come to the same conclusion. Frenzy had stepped close to the wall, carefully feeling along the various crevices and shoving his visor so close to the energon vein that Megatron was amazed he could see anything from that distance. Rumble stood back further, though he looked no less scrutinous.

"Alright, I guess I can see why a deep core miner is needed," he admitted. "We haven't really...encountered this sorta thing before. It's usually just rock." 

"I'm guessing we'll be encountering this type of thing more and more often as the mine expands downwards," Megatron commented. "A smart operator would abandon this bit. The tail end of a vein is not worth burrowing through Osmium for...but the supervisors don't want to miss out on a sliver of profit, I assume," He added, unable to hide the bitterness.

Frenzy scoffed, finally pulling back from the wall. "This is stupid. This is going to take us ages." 

"Better get started then," Rumble replied, sounding rather miserable.

The work began, and the three mechs lapsed into silence, it was too much of a pain to try and be heard over the sounds of drilling. They found a proper rhythm rather quickly, Megatron making relatively short work of the Osmium around the deposit as Frenzy drilled into the cracks closest to the energon vein. Rumble traipsed between the pair working and the entrance of the side-tunnel, depositing armfuls of mined energon into a waiting cart. Often it was gone and replaced by an empty cart by the time he got back. 

By the time Megatron's internal clock told him it was almost time for shift change - a joke, really, he could continue if he wished - they'd already mined out a few feet of rocks. The vein was just as thick as it had been at the beginning, and he begrudgingly admitted to himself that it may have been worth it to excavate the rest of it after all. He didn't know much about final excavation after all. He always just assumed it was desperately scrabbling at slivers of energon to make a little bit of extra money. 

Which, no doubt, the latter part was at least true. 

"We filled 3 carts," Rumble reported with a touch of pride to his tone. "You in the market for a more permanent partnership?" he quipped to Megatron. "It'd take Frenzy at least a deca-cycle to drill out the same amount." 

Frenzy, for his credit, couldn't hold the angry expression for long. Rumble was, after all, technically correct even if he didn't have to say it. Megatron just nodded, following the minicons back out of the tight tunnel. He envied them momentarily, certain they never had to worry about being unable to turn around in the tighter spots. He was glad to emerge back into the larger access tunnel, seeing a few other smaller-framed miners emerging from their tunnels and head back towards the central elevator...no other minicons, though. 

As much as he wanted to ask about them, to understand them, he didn't. For all he knew, he'd be reassigned again in a week. He didn't want to get to know the pair. He'd gotten to know one other, once, and it had gone awry. He still remembered-

"Alright, see ya later." 

His thoughts were interrupted by Rumble, lazily waving farewell as he and Frenzy turned off of the main access, stepping onto a platform that headed up higher into the mine. Megatron nodded his farewell, getting onto the opposing platform with most of the others exiting section S to begin the descent down. He could feel the minicon's gazes still on him, until they were out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have very little idea how mines are laid out. So mining enthusiasts please forgive me if my imagination of sprawling tunnels is not accurate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters be like "I don't want to get to know them" and then do anyways.

For all of his thought that he could have worked all night, Megatron had to admit that it felt good to rest and refuel. Mining out osmium was certainly not beyond his capabilities, but it definitely came close to the line, leaving him with sore joints. Not that he complained. He never complained. Sore joints or a cracked plate here or there was nothing compared to those he had seen carried screaming to the - barely stocked - medical facility with crushed or ripped off limbs.

He would never complain when he knew the true damage that could happen any day. 

Exiting the room with the communal recharge racks, Megatron stopped by the common room and took his daily allotment of energon. Some days it was better than other days, and today it was pretty bad. Disguising a grimace with a hand to wipe his lips, he tossed back the rest of the swill as fast as he could, tossing the cube and heading off into the hall. He had some time before official shift change, and returned to the dormitory, sitting down on his rack. Each miner had a small container attached to the end of their rack with personal belongings, things brought down from before or purchased on outings before those became so rare. 

His own didn't hold much. A stack of data pads, a scrap of polished red metal, a framed image that remained tucked in the corner and upside-down. He grabbed one of the data pads and closed the container again, powering it on. He'd been writing the night before, leaving a half-finished work. Resting his chin on one fist he scanned over what he had written, grimaced, and erased it. That would teach him to try and be philosophical after a hard shift. He sat for a while longer, staring at the freshly cleared page. It shouldn't have been this difficult to write. It never was _before_. 

But, unfortunately, his mind simply refused to cooperate. And before he knew it, it was time to head out to his designated area. Sighing in frustration he popped the container open again and tossed the pad in with little care, slapping the lid closed. A bunkmate looked up at the sudden clatter and then back down. 

Megatron exited the room, steps heavier than usual. He wouldn't lower himself to stomp around like a pouty sparkling, but it was frustrating to feel his inspiration ebb away. 

Not that it mattered. The writings would never be seen by optics other than his own, anyways.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at level S again, and even shorter to arrive at tunnel 78S. Listening carefully, he could hear voices already inside, though he couldn't tell what the minicons were talking about. Whatever it was subsided as he approached and the two turned away from the wall, looking at him as he approached. He slowed down and then paused, unable to parse the way they peered at him. 

"What?" He looked between the two, brow pinching slightly. 

"Nothin'," Frenzy replied after a single beat. "We just weren't really expecting to see you again." 

"Why?" He asked, momentarily aware of how mono-syllabic he sounded.

"Eh, folks ask to reassign away from us a lot." Rumble was the one to reply that time, shrugging a shoulder. "Dunno. They think we're less efficient." 

"Or they don't like working with a pair."

"Or they think it's an insult to their skills to be placed with us." 

"Or-" Megatron held up a hand, stopping the duo from spiraling into endless examples. 

"I see no reason to request reassignment. You're both competent workers. And I'd bet you know more about expected procedure for final excavation than I do, anyhow," He replied, turning towards the wall with the vein on it. "And like you said. This is a bit delicate for my hands." It was true. He cracked through the osmium like a professional, but he wouldn't be able to extract the thin vein of energon from it nearly as cleanly as Frenzy and his small drills could.

The pair looked at each other, like they had when he first arrived. Rumble's lips twitched. Frenzy huffed imperceptibly. Megatron put the pieces together, and figured that they were using internal comms. Whatever they were talking about, he knew it was about him, and he found himself not fancying that at all. He didn't like not knowing what was being mentioned about him. His mouth pressing into a thin line, he turned away and faced the wall, beginning work once more. 

The other two fell in behind him just as they had the day before. The hefty clang of his pickaxe punctuated by the sound of Frenzy's drills, Rumble's peds crunching on the loose rocks knocked onto the ground as he gathered the excavated energon and brought it out to the cart. It was almost meditative in a way, being able to lose himself to the work. To ignore his earlier frustrations. But that thought, also, left him feeling hollow. Was this all that there would ever be? Though he tried to lock the feelings of displacement away he couldn't deny that he longed for more, hoped that some day he would no longer only be toiling in the dark. Pipe dreams. Silly aspirations.

The end of the workday came faster than it had the other day. Megatron had been so lost in his thoughts he almost missed when it was time to leave, drawn out of his concentration by Frenzy patting him on the leg. "Hey, big guy. Work's done for the day." 

Shaking the haze of his thoughts away, Megatron looked down at the duo, and then up to inspect the vein and their progress. It had gotten even thinner, and they had made some serious progress. Frenzy seemed pleased - Rumble seemed downright ecstatic.   
  
"Look at that! Another mega-cycle or two and we'll be done! Maybe we'll even get a break before our next reassignment for workin' so fast!" Rumble slapped the wall approvingly. 

Megatron snorted cynically. Though Rumble didn't seem to notice, he caught the way that Frenzy's helm shifted towards him for just a second before looking away. Megatron didn't _mean_ to scoff at their apparent excitement, but he had long burnt out his ability to hope for rewards for exemplary work. He was one of the best of the deep core miners, after all. All he'd ever gotten for it was more work.   
  
The three mechs exited the tunnel. Megatron noted that they were a bit late, spotting more arriving for second shift than leaving off of theirs. But this time when they reached the platforms, Rumble and Frenzy got onto the one going down as well. 

Megatron gave them a strange look. "Aren't your quarters up higher?" He asked, his gaze turning somewhat scrutinizing. 

"Don't say anything," Rumble said in a conspiratorial tone. "We're not gonna bother you." He smirked, and it was mirrored on Frenzy's face. 

Megatron regarded them both evenly, waiting just long enough that their confidant smirks began to waver before he replied. "Whatever you're up to isn't my business." 

It seemed they were serious about not going down on his behalf, though, disappearing down a different tunnel once they'd arrived at the bottom. Megatron shook his head, heading back towards the dormitory. He found himself, unwittingly, hoping that they weren't about to run off and get themselves into trouble. Another reassignment would be inconvenient.

-

As the next day came, he found that he didn't need to worry. Halfway to the dig site he spotted them lingering near the entrance of tunnel 78S, peering at each other with that gaze that denoted internal communications. As he approached they turned to look at him, and he was surprised to see the genuinely happy expression on their faces, used to being regarded with positive indifference at best. 

"Glad to see your escapade didn't get you both scrapped," He said, entering the tunnel and starting the walk down to the end.

"Nah, it went pretty well!" Rumble reported. "Actually-"

Frenzy interrupted. "We brought somethin'." 

As they reached the end of the tunnel, Frenzy brought out a disk of tungsten, holding it up to Megatron.

The larger miner eyed them both warily. "Why?" he demanded. "Did you steal this?" 

"What- no!" Frenzy protested, mouth turning into a rather sharp scowl. "We're not _thieves_ , Megatron." 

"Yeah! We earned it, fair and square."

Megatron's frown deepened. This seemed to be the opposite effect that the minicons had been hoping for, given that they shuffled around somewhat nervously. "You _earned_ it? How?" 

"Well, you see," Rumble began to explain. "There's...um," He trailed off, seeing the fierce glare that Frenzy was leveling his way, notable even through his visor. "Well, we did!" Rumble repeated defensively. "We're givin' it to you, so accept it or don't. You don't gotta be an aft about it." 

Megatron exvented heavily. "Why are you giving me an item that many of the miners here would get into a brawl over?" He demanded. "We've been working together for only two mega-cycles. Why not trade it? Or use it yourselves? You could purchase an upgrade with that." He crossed his arms. They were wasting time here, time that they could be working. 

Frenzy and Rumble looked sufficiently abashed, but Frenzy had yet to lower the arm holding it up - and, his arm was starting to tremble slightly with the effort. 

"We don't qualify for upgrades," He muttered finally, then waved the disk once more to get Megatron's attention. "Just take it, will ya? 'S thanks for all the hard work or whatever." 

Megatron looked between them for a moment, then finally reached down and took the disk. "...Thank you," He said, begrudging. "But I'd still prefer to know that you're not trying to dump a stolen object on me."

"We swear, it's not stolen," Rumble said sternly. "Do we look like thieves?"

 _A little_ , Megatron thought. But he shook his helm. "No." He placed the tungsten disk away into his subspace, and then turned towards the wall, hefting his pickaxe and starting to dig without a further word.

But questions weighed on his processor, even moreso than before. Only a cycle into the work day before he spoke up between swings of the axe. "You said-" _Clang_. "You two-" _Clang_. "Don't qualify-" _Clang_. "For upgrades?" He questioned, pausing in his swings for a second to peer down at Frenzy. Rumble was somewhere else in the tunnel, so he hoped that the slightly more secretive member of the duo wouldn't mind the prying too much. "Why?" 

Frenzy just kept drilling, and at first Megatron assumed he was just being ignored. But after a moment, he looked up to the larger miner. "Yeah. Our frames 'can't handle it'," He explained, though his voice dripped with sarcasm. "It's not true. It just means they haven't bothered to stock equipment that works on us." He explained.

Huh. A followup question quickly drifted to the surface. He paused entirely to question this time - "Are there no others of your frametype here?" 

"Nope," Frenzy replied quicker this time. "At least, none we've met. Prob'ly because they're taken into servitude by surface mechs," He added, his tone flippant but practiced. Cultivated to hide something.

Megatron picked up on that easily. "And," _Clang_. "You wish you were too?" He guessed.

Frenzy's visor flashed. "No!" He almost shouted. "Pit no. Me 'n Rumble aren't servants of nobody." 

For the first time since they'd started working together, Megatron felt himself smile. "Good," He rumbled in reply, resting his axe against his shoulder and stepping back. Many mechs would say that a life of servitude to a cushy upper class mech was easily better than slaving away in the mines for such terrible pay. Especially for those like Rumble and Frenzy - they obviously weren't built for this job. Megatron was not one of those mechs. Freedom was a thing to hold onto with iron fists. No matter how much mining it meant you had to do. "The vein's ended," He said, stepping back and gesturing to the wall. Sure enough, there was only a small sliver of Energon left.

Frenzy quickly went to work extracting it, just as Rumble arrived around the corner. "We're done," Frenzy called over his shoulder, turning around with the last crystals gripped in his hands. 

Rumble grinned, and then plopped down to sit. Frenzy tossed the last two crystals in his direction, and then did so as well.

Megatron looked between them, a hint of confusion in his optics. "What are you doing?" 

"We're takin' a break," Rumble replied with a grin.

"Yep. Not like they know we're done. Might as well take a minute." 

Megatron's brow pinched. He didn't like taking breaks, didn't like relaxing until the day was done. "We need to get the rest back and report that we've finished our assignments."

Rumble reached up, pulling his visor off and rolling his optics, then sliding it back on. "Sit down for a minute, big guy." 

Megatron tilted his head, slowly acquiescing and moving to sit with his back to the place they had been mining. "Did you take your visor off just to roll your optics at me?" He asked after a moment of silence.

Rumble snickered, prompting Frenzy to lightly whack the side of his head. Which prompted him to do it back, and almost devolved into a whack-fight until they caught sight of Megatron's expression slowly tilting towards the disapproving again.

"Anyways! Megatron, what do you want to do when you get outta here?" Rumble asked, turning his focus back onto the larger mech.

Megatron blinked. "What?"

"Well, you gotta have like, a dream of somethin'," Rumble pressed. "Unless you _want_ to be a miner forever?" 

It wasn't really a want, Megatron thought. Sure, he'd like to do something else. But it wasn't exactly a choice. He vocalized as much - "The supervisors would be angry to hear you say that," He cautioned. "I was made for mining. So I'm a miner." 

"Yeah, but who's gonna tell 'em we're just talking? For fun? D-16?" 

He supposed they had a point. No exact rule-follower would be going by something other than their original designation. And something about the strangely optimistic attitude of the minicons made him want to share. 

"I used to wonder if I could be a medic," He admitted, internally bracing himself for the laughter that he was certain would follow.

It didn't come, though. Just a pair of attentive listeners. 

"...Or a writer," He added, looking suspiciously between them. "You aren't passing this information on, are you?" 

They shook their heads fiercely. "No," Frenzy said. "Just makin' conversation. I don't think I've met anybody who'd wanted to be a medic before." He said. 

"Well, it's not to be," Megatron said firmly. He'd given up that stupid dream long ago, and had no desire to try and express it again. He'd learned the hard way not to dare speak out of turn or suggest he could be more than what he was designed to be. "So here I am." Pausing, he glanced at the two of them. 

"How did _you_ get down here? I don't think minicons are meant for mining." 

"Yeah, most aren't," Frenzy said with a nod. "But, before things went to slag down here, the old owner had me around to check safety stuff." 

"And we're kind of a package deal," Rumble added. "Brothers 'n all."

"Check safety stuff?" Megatron looked surprised. He'd assumed the pair were newcomers, in all honesty. They were far more upbeat than any of the long-standing miners were. Usually any sort of positivity was ground out of them pretty quickly.

"Yeah," Frenzy stood up. "Watch." 

Walking over to one of the walls, he placed both hands on it and leaned in really close. Megatron felt more than heard the pulse that the minicon emitted, the sound almost subsonic. Frenzy looked disoriented for a moment, a tremble passing through his body - but the moment passed and Frenzy pointed up to the ceiling "There's a fissure up there, two over there-" pointed to the corners - "And a huge crack forming in the tunnel to the left of us - better not have anybody in there, that thing's about to collapse - and extensive drilling has stripped a vein here-" He ran his fingers over a section of the wall, "That spreads all the way up and there's a weak spot to Rumble's left, but not enough that it's an issue." He rested his hands on his hips, looking rather proud of himself. 

Megatron looked impressed. "That's a helpful talent," He said. "How do you do it?"

"It's like sonic imaging, but not as clear," Frenzy explained. "I can feel the damages. Back when the employers actually _cared_ about not having ceilings fall in on us, I used to scan each new tunnel before and after it was cleared." He looked towards the entrance of the tunnel, expression falling into a harder pinch. "I can do other types of sonic pulse also. That's just the only one that ever mattered. Not that it matters now. I just drill. I don't even check anymore, 'cause I know half the stupid little spaces they send us crawling into could probably have crushed us ten ways from the sun." 

The mood in the cleared tunnel suddenly got a lot more heavy, the three remaining silent for a few moments before Frenzy turned to his companion and extended a hand, pulling Rumble up onto his feet. "Well, we should get this last energon out," He said with a sigh. 

Megatron nodded, pushing back up to his feet. "I could share some of my writing with you," He said suddenly. The minicons looked back up at him in surprise. "Since you told me something personal. It's only fair." 

Frenzy's lips tilted into a slight smile. "That'd be rad." 

Heading towards the entrance of the tunnel, the three miners were blissfully unaware of the fact that, someone was indeed in the tunnel to the left of them. Megatron only became aware of a sudden rumble, his head lifting just in time to see a crack spreading across the ceiling above them, his sharp invent prompting the brothers to look up as well. 

Rumble let out a sharp shout of terror, bursting into a sprint away from the crack.

Frenzy froze. 

As the crack widened and suddenly plunged down towards them, Megatron did the only thing he could think of and lurched forward, throwing his arm out and knocking Frenzy out of the path of the falling rocks above him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for any OOCness. This takes place decently before everything went wrong, so I like to imagine Megatron had the capacity to be a little bit less stringent at one point.
> 
> Sorry for the cliffhanger, but only a little sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Being trapped under rocks really gives a guy a lot of time to think.

Megatron's optics flickered on, met with a haze of dust and jolt of pain. He hadn't even remembered the moment of impact - but he could certainly feel it now. A nightmare for any miner made form. Trapped under rocks. 

Panic was the first emotion that came to mind. He couldn't clear the rock dust from his vents, couldn't focus his eyes on much but other rocks - he began to check his limbs. Left leg, Left arm, Right leg, Right- _slag_. That was where the pain was. He could barely feel the limb, though he hoped that was just a result of the layer of rocks currently pressing down on him, not that it was permanently destroyed. Spotting a glow, he took a moment to realize what it was. His own energon pooling below him. That would explain the jabbing pain in his back, the agony growing every time he tried to shift. He lay still, resting his cheek against the ground and trying to orient himself against the pain.

He should call out for help.

That was the automatic response, anyways. To shout and scream and cry for someone to save him, to let him out...but he knew the truth in his spark, and he couldn't bring himself to call out. It would be useless. As soon as that crack started forming, he was dead. He knew that this mine didn't dig out it's victims. 

Victim _s_. The minicons. He jerked and then winced as he felt rocks grind into his backplates. 

Had they managed to get out? If Rumble had sprinted fast enough, had he pushed Frenzy out of the way in time? If the collapsed ceiling was hurting him this badly, there was no way the smaller miners with weaker armor would have survived. His thoughts turned dour, he hoped that at least it had been fast. 

His mind drifted to their conversation just before the ceiling broke. He'd been hoping to share one of his writings with the brothers, prompted by Frenzy's adamant denial of servitude. He suspected that underneath their rather brash exteriors, Frenzy and Rumble were carrying around some wounds of the past.

Most mechs were, that he'd met, anyways. Back when he used to actually take his opportunity to go out on leave every so often, he'd spent plenty of time in less-than-savory establishments. Not that he liked them, but simply because they were the kind of places that allowed a mech like him to exist in without bother. It seemed like everyone that he'd met there had always had some-or-other weight on their shoulders. 

-

_"You're a writer? That's sweet," The bartender had smirked slightly at him as she poured a cube of some greenish high-grade and slid it over to him. "What do you write?" From the look in her optics, he knew that she was already making assumptions about what sort of thing a simple-minded laborer would write about. Wordlessly he withdrew one of his datapads and held it out for her to look at. A cursory glance turned into a thoughtful expression. A thoughtful expression that had read the entire page as he patiently held it._

_Once she was done, she looked up at him and nodded, all cynicism gone. "That's evocative, kid. Seriously." Patting the back of his hand with slender digits, she put the lid back onto the bottle she'd been pouring from and stuck it back on the shelf. "Don't let the functionists see you carryin' stuff like that, though." The smirk was back, though there was a serious expression in her eyes._

_By the time he had finished his drink and stood to leave, he was stopped by a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he saw the bartender holding out a datapad of her own. "Take it with you?" She asked. "Tell me what you think when you come back next time."_

_He had been surprised to learn he was not the only one secreting away subversive writings. He was taken in by her blunt style of writing, a clear inversion of the Iaconian style of poetry. Almost mocking, just enough to notice. He'd even been excited to return once his next leave came, only to find that the establishment had been shut down. He remembered the sinking feeling of standing outside the welded shut doors._

_He hoped she was okay. He'd dedicate a work to her someday, even if he never caught her designation._

_-_

Megatron jolted, his optics flaring. He'd slipped away at some point into a memory, his processor taking the moment to force him into a semblance of recharge. An attempt to repair the situation he'd found himself in. That didn't work, of course, and as soon as he was aware again he was only doubly aware of the pain. 

But he thought he heard voices.

That had to be a mistake. Something conjured up by a strained processor as he waited for the rest of his energon to leak out.

No- no, there were definitely voices. Frantic ones, too. 

Through some effort, Megatron turned his head to rest his chin on the stone instead and face forward, straining to identify the voices. As it turned out, he didn't have to wait long. The rocks around his head were being dislodged, kicking up more dust and letting light filter through.

"-gatron! Megatron!" He now could tell that the voices were calling his name. He tried to call back, but only managed a strangled sounding wheeze.

Resetting his vocalizer, he managed. "I'm here," though that felt like an extremely underwhelming reaction to hearing someone trying to dislodge him after having firmly accepted his death.

The rocks were finally pulled away and he found himself facing two identical, nervous faces. It seemed as if he had been successful, he thought, switching his gaze to Frenzy. Mostly - he noted that the minicon had an arm hanging limply at his side and energon pooling underneath a cracked visor that was starting to drip down his left cheek. Rumble looked alright, though, just scratched up. 

"We found you! We're getting you out!" Called Frenzy, and Megatron winced. His audials were sensitive after being alone in the silent dark for some time. 

"Why?" He croaked out, eyeing them balefully. The supervisors were _not_ going to be happy about having to patch back together such extensive damage. At least they hadn't reached the low of just offlining injured mechs, yet. "Procedure says you leave those who get in cave-ins." 

Frenzy was already drilling through some of the rocks that had landed on his back, pausing every so often to let off one of those feeling pulses. He didn't want to bring the _rest_ of the ceiling down after all, even if he looked more and more tired and slightly unfocused every time that he did so. 

"Well, that's stupid," Rumble snapped angrily. "You've been good to us. We're returning the favor."

Megatron chuckled, causing Frenzy to pause in his work and eye the larger mech with concern. "We haven't even known each other for a deca-cycle," He said incredulously. 

"Yeah, well, down here we don't really got a lotta time to make friends. Gotta do it faster," Rumble huffed, starting to help drag some of the rocks away. It really was a relief, Megatron thought, feeling the pressure letting up. He offlined his optics, resting his cheek on the floor again. 

He felt like he was going to slip into recharge again, but then he felt small hands grabbing at his shoulders. "Can you get up?" Rumble demanded, and Megatron onlined his optics to see that they had made significant progress since he stopped paying attention. As much as he wanted to protest, he knew that the minicons wouldn't be able to carry him themselves. Slowly, very slowly he pushed himself into kneeling, and then standing - and then falling against the wall with a grimace and an involuntary groan of pain. He felt energon leaking down his back and he shuddered as he tried to orient himself and quell the pain, dismissing the warnings shouting at him that he was damaged. Yeah, he could tell.

Frenzy jumped down from where he was and scurried out of the tunnel's entrance - it seemed as if they had to dig through some lighter debris to make their way to him. Rumble remained closer to the larger mech's side, holding an arm up in offering. "Lean on me a little. It's fine, I'm tougher than I look." 

Megatron eyed him, then acquiesced, leaning a hand down on Rumble's arm. True to his word, the small mech barely wavered, starting to lead him out of the tunnel and down the main accessway.

Halfway there, they were met by a shocked looking mech holding a datapad - "Oh Primus! Survivors! I was told it was a write-off!" He touched his audial and used an internal comm for a moment, staring at the three. Megatron took the moment to lean off of Rumble and back against the wall, bracing his good arm against it and doing his best to suppress a deep grimace. His audials rang as he tried once more to re-orient himself against the new flash of pain. 

"You two, run along to the medbay. You'll need to be out of the way so he can be moved," The chronicler waved his datapad at Rumble and Frenzy, indicating them to head off. They reluctantly looked back towards the trembling figure bracing against the wall, but did as they were told. 

The last thing Megatron was consciously aware of was of firm hands grabbing his upper arms, and a concerned statement as he felt the floor drop out from under him. 

-

When he woke, the pain was almost gone. Recognizing that he was in the rough-hewn medbay he sat up cautiously, turning to look over his shoulder at the fresh welds in his back where the rocks had ground into him. 

"Oh, you're awake," Came a flat voice. The resident medic wasn't known for his bedside manner. "Good. You're fine. Replaced struts in your arm. Welded your back together again. You have two days of rest assigned to your designation. Now get out." The medic hadn't even looked up from his desk to inform Megatron of the results. The miner shook his head. He hadn't expected much. 

Gingerly standing he tested his arm, rotating it foreward and backwards. A bit sore, but his auto-repair would fix up the last of the damage. 

"Oh, and expenses will be taken out of your paycheck."

Megatron stopped, turning back and glaring at the medic. "What?"

The medic, again, didn't even look at him. Or acknowledge him, that time. 

He took a step forwards. "How is that fair? I got injured because of the conditions of this scraphole. And I have to pay for my own welds when I almost died from the supervisors' negligence?" 

The medic turned now, staring at him incredulously. "Yes. Everyone pays their bills. You don't get special treatment."

"Everyone should be allowed free repairs if they're injured by things that could be preventable!" He shouted, unable to stop the flare of anger, jabbing a finger in the medic's direction. 

The medic flinched, then scowled. "I'm going to call the guards," He snapped, turning back around and reaching for his intercom. 

Megatron, for a moment, wondered if it would be worth it to continue the argument. Argue his way all the way to the supervisors. His hands clenched...and he turned away, storming out. He would never be listened to, he knew that. 

Arriving back at the dormitory recharge room, he sat down heavily on his rack and buried his face in his servos. He needed to get out of this damn mine. He made a note right then and there that he would be taking the next leave opportunity after all. 

"Excuse me?" A quiet but deep voice addressed him and he looked up, unintentionally fixing the speaker with a nasty glare. The speaker, to his credit, didn't even flinch. "I was told to give this to you." He held out a very scuffed datapad...and a disk of tungsten. 

"By who?" Megatron asked, though he knew.

"I didn't catch designations. Two little guys," The miner held his hand up near his thighs to indicate small height. 

Megatron reached out and took the datapad and disk, setting them on his rack. "Thanks," he muttered. The other mech nodded, gazing at him for a moment before turning to walk away. Megatron called after him. "Hey, what's your designation?" 

The miner paused, turning back. "D-93," He replied. 

"Your real designation."

A long pause, and then- "Armorheap." 

Megatron nodded. "Armorheap...do you go to the surface often?" 

"Sometimes," the miner replied, tilting his helm slightly. "You don't, do you?"

"Not usually," Megatron confirmed with a nod. "I could use a guide next time our block gets leave." 

Armorheap paused, then nodded and smiled. "Sure." He turned once more, and that time Megatron let him leave. 

Picking up the datapad he powered it on, examining the note left there.

_Hey big guy, sorry we couldn't give this to you. Got reassigned. I guess the supervisors found the drill marks and knew we dug you out instead of leavin' you. We're getting transferred to some slaghole off-planet. It was nice knowin' somebody out there treats us minis with respect._

_Good luck. Don't get squished again! Maybe just stick with deep core mining instead of final excavations._

_-R &F_

Megatron peered at the note for a few minutes longer than it took him to read it with a dismal expression. He knew something like this was going to happen, but it was still rather a disappointment. He'd liked them. They were just the kind of subversion he'd needed after almost resigning himself to a fate permanently below the ground. 

Putting the datapad and tungsten into his container, he withdrew one of his own datapads. Turning it on he gazed at the index of writing upon it. Some of his more benign works, and some of his more scathing works. 

Glancing around the room he spotted Armorheap over at his own bunk, watching him as he applied some sort of anti-corrosion gel to a joint that obviously should have been replaced by now...his fingers clenched slightly as he remembered his infuriating experience at the medics. 

Standing up he headed out of the room with pad in hand, heading down towards the incinerator that worn out tools and trash minerals were melted down in. Standing outside the entrance to that cavern he made sure his datapad was connected to the datanet. His fingers hovered over the button he'd been debating back and forth about pressing for decades. To upload his works to the datanet could get him into serious trouble. More than just "lose your job" trouble. "Creating dissenting propaganda" trouble. Not that he viewed it that way, of course.

Mechs needed to make a change. There had to be more out there that believed it. 

He pressed the button, then snapped the datapad in half. Entering the incinerator room he threw it in, and then made haste back to the recharge room. Few mechs knew his chosen designation, and with the datapad quickly turning into a melted bit of slag, he hoped that it would be some time before the writings were traced back to him. Enough time to create more, enough time to go out onto the streets and discover other mechs who felt the same way. 

Maybe things _would_ be different someday. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote these three chapters in 5 hardbass fueled hours. I'm pretty sure one of the muses possessed me. 
> 
> 3/2 Update: Decided that the planned time-skipping works way better as a series than a single fic continuation since it takes place a significant amount of years apart, so expect a sequel to be posted very soon!
> 
> Feedback is extremely appreciated <3  
> Thank you for reading


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